Digital Forensics to Grow to $4.8 Billion by 2020

The business of obtaining, interpreting, and uncovering digital data from electronic devices is gaining momentum and won’t slow down anytime soon, according to a recent report from IndustryARC.

“Digital Forensics Market Analysis” says the digital forensics market is expected to grow at an annual compound rate of just over 14%, hitting $4.8 billion in revenue by 2020. The biggest reason for the growth is a heightened focus by companies and government on cybersecurity and data theft prevention, according to the report.

The exponential growth in the volume of data with the proliferation of a wide variety of mobile devices and formats has led to a rise in the use of digital forensics.

IndustryARC said most of the market growth will occur in the Americas and also found that:

The digital forensics market in the Americas will hold around 60% share by 2020.

In Europe, the use of digital forensics in the corporate sector will grow at a maximum rate of 19.2% between 2015 and 2020.

The Asia-Pacific market will grow at a rate of 25.2% between 2015 and 2020.

The global market is estimated to grow at about 14.2% during the same period.

“[The] Digital forensics market is majorly driven by the rate of digital crimes in a particular region,” Sowmya Kulkarni, associate business consultant at IndustryARC, told Legaltech News. “Globally, the rate of digital crimes such as data espionage, cyber-based terrorism, computer intrusions, hacking, malware, and so on is relatively higher in the Americas region. According to the FBI, in the U.S. alone there has been report of over 269,422 complaints of cybercrimes received in 2014 with estimated loss of $800 million.”

The use of digital forensics by the federal government “contributes to 45% of the overall market while the legal sector contributes to 55% of the overall market,” Kulkarni added. Digital forensic revenue from the federal sector is estimated to increase from $1.1 billion in 2015 to $2.1 billion by 2020, Legaltech News reported.

Edward McAndrew, a former prosecutor of cybercrimes at two U.S. Attorneys' offices, previously told Legaltech News that there is a definite need – the U.S. government is currently “under-resourced” when it comes to tackling the cybercrime epidemic.

“I haven't seen an agency at any level with sufficient resources to forensically analyze the volume of digital evidence being collected on a timely basis for use in a courtroom,” he said. “Government officials at the federal, state, and local levels have largely acknowledged that our law enforcement resources trained and dedicated to fighting technology-facilitated crimes are insufficient.”